Filipinos are fond of engaging in activities to escape reality, such as by watching television. The reason why Filipinos want to â€œescapeâ€� reality is because reality for them is such a harsh thing to face that the only way to help them forget about their problems is to be entertained.

For the poor and uneducated, the television is the only tool they can afford to make it easier for them to cope with their misery. The promise of acquiring a better life through other peopleâ€™s â€œbetter livesâ€� on television shows help relieve persistent feelings of depression or general sadness. The television is a magical device for Filipinos seeking to avoid the perceived unpleasant or banal aspects of daily life.

The man behind the dumbing down of the Filipino
Unfortunately, running away from problems by â€œescapingâ€� to a different world will not make the problems disappear, especially if all the people watch are telenovelas and gossip shows about celebrities. In fact Filipinos in general have been running away from their problems far too long that these same problems keep coming back to bite them.

The Philippines has a dysfunctional culture and nowhere is this more evident in the number of Filipino television shows that promote stupidity. Frankly, some of us can talk about Philippine societyâ€™s problems â€™til kingdom come, but unfortunately we canâ€™t make a real difference until mainstream media shapes up and helps in this endeavor.

In this age of Twitter, Facebook, Kindle and the iPad, television is still the best tool that could be employed to change an entire societyâ€™s mentality. According to figures from TIME magazine, â€œacross the developing world, around 45% of households had TV in 1995; by 2005 the number had climbed above 60%.â€� Thatâ€™s not a lot if you compare it to western households where there are more TVâ€™s than people, but it still means that there are more people who own TVs than those who have access to the Internet.

This is exactly the case in the Philippines where the majority of the population is still not connected to the Net. This means that there are a lot of Filipinos missing out on the Internet revolution. Perhaps the Philippine broadcast industry only care about their bottom line. They rest on their laurels and laugh all the way to the bank as their television shows continue to work their magic on their catatonic audiences.

It comes as no surprise that despite the noise we and some other like-minded people created on the Net to elevate the level of discussion during and after the election, it hardly makes a difference to the way our public officials behave.

It is high time that television be used as a medium to transform the lives of the marginalized portion of Philippine society rather than dumb it down further. Chat shows that talk about people and their love life rather than explore ideas of substance should be purged from local television.

Shows that encourage dependence on hand-outs and escapism like Willing Willie should be replaced with programs that encourage self-sufficiency and self-reliance like those that provide information that could help in the development of oneâ€™s skills such as crafts shows or science and technology documentaries.

The show Willing Willie was even recently embroiled in controversy because the host, Willie Revillame bullied a crying six-year-old boy into mimicking the salacious dance moves usually done by the shows mainstay back-up dancers in exchange for money. The dance moves by themselves already promote the very promiscuity and lewd behavior that the Catholic Bishops keep shrieking about. The show needs to be scrapped as soon as possible because there is no way Willie Revillame will ever change.

TV networks need to develop shows that promote entrepreneurship and skill development. They should create original programs and not just copy off western reality TV shows.

Telenovelas or drama shows should be limited to the adult time slots because kids are impressionable and tend to mimic reel life in their real lives. Likewise, drama shows tend to stunt the development of the human brain and make them susceptible to gullibility as in the case of those who voted for P.Noy in the last election. It makes sense to apply the mind conditioning that helped propel P.Noy to power for use in helping Filipinos get used to using their critical analysis faculties a bit more.

They say, and I totally agree, that television has the most transformative impact on women. In India, a study conducted by Robert Jensen and Emily Oster found that when cable TV reached villages, women were more likely to make decisions over child health care and less likely to think that men had the right to beat their wives. TV also played a role in adult education in Gujarat, India. It was said that those who routinely watched Bollywood songs and dance clips had seen significant improvement in their reading skills.

Of course, television is a double-edged sword. It has its drawbacks. Too much television has been associated with violence, obesity and social isolation. But to be sure, TV has done more good than harm worldwide. A good show can actually encourage people to read more books.

Television can change peopleâ€™s lives. At the moment, Philippine television networks are contributing to changing Filipino lives for the worse because of their penchant for sensationalism and nonsensical shows. One can only hope that the powerful television executives can find it in their hearts to change the course of the plot so the Filipino people can look forward to a happier ending.

"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor and stoic philosopher, 121-180 A.D.

Mr S wrote:Of course, television is a double-edged sword. It has its drawbacks. Too much television has been associated with violence, obesity and social isolation. But to be sure, TV has done more good than harm worldwide. A good show can actually encourage people to read more books.

Dumbest thing I've read in a while. Everytime I say that someone takes it as a challenge! If there was no tv people would be reading books anyway!!
Good article, bad conclusions. "Right now the brainwash is bad. Let's turn brainwash into a positive force." How about toss the tv in the dumpster and watch as much of crime magically disappears...

well-informed, there was no cause to swear and cuss at LinuxOnly like that. He was just making a statement about watching TV and the negative effects of it. He was not saying anything against you. So why did you attack him all of a sudden? That was unwarranted. I'm removing your post. Please don't do that again.

"It takes far less effort to find and move to the society that has what you want than it does to try to reconstruct an existing society to match your standards." - Harry Browne, How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World

Winston i'm not attacking Linux all of a sudden. Don't completely excuse Linux because he's blasted me before for the simple fact i didn't agree with his CT videos. So what i said about him was warranted, given all the disrespectful he's told me